“Really?”
“Yeah, he would just go on and on.” He paused. “Like I am now.”
“It’s all right. How’s the room they have you in?”
“It’s nice. It’s nicer than any room I’ve ever stayed in.”
She smiled briefly, then said, “Look, we’re going to implant the new chip in a couple of hours. I’ll monitor you for a bit before you go to bed and in the morning before we start the test. What we have planned for you is going to be a little painful. Are you ready for that?”
Two-Step rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not going to lie, I’m a little nervous. I’ve only had code one time, and that was just the other day, but I’m ready. Or I will be when the time comes.”
“Good,” Xia said. “I better make some notes while we’re in here. It has to look official.”
While she made notes, Two-Step strummed his fingers on the table. “So what’s this overload going to be like?”
“It’s going to look and sound a lot worse than it feels, I promise. I’m going to program it to last long enough for the med team to get you out of here and to the infirmary. When you come out of it, it will feel like nothing happened. Well, mostly. You know what to do when you come out of it?”
He nodded. “I do. Hopefully, everything else goes right so I can.”
“It will,” Xia said. It has too, or we’re all in serious trouble, she thought.
Chapter 49
Kat and Sandy spent most of the weekend modifying the bank of security monitors at Retro Media. It took some creative thinking, but they finally got them to accept a video feed from the net glasses Sandy and Jacob would wear while they were in the Your Better Life building. Sandy would also tap into the security system in the building and send the feed to Kat’s monitors. An in-ear receiver would allow them to communicate with Kat, who would stay behind at Retro Media and monitor the feed from the glasses and help them coordinate. However, Kat would not be able to monitor Xia and Two-Step. They were on their own in the research lab. Sandy could tell Kat didn’t like that, but there was nothing they could do, they just had to hope everything went as planned.
The job of programming the ID cards was left to Sandy, her skills with digital imaging making her the obvious choice. Creating everyone’s animated image offered no problem at all, but mimicking the blockchain code the government used to track the use of the cards was a challenge. The code didn’t have to work, but it had to trick the scanner at Your Better Life into thinking it was working. After she finished the first card, she tried it on the credit scanner at Retro Media. The scanner denied the transaction because of a lack of credits on the account, but it recognized the card as legitimate. Fortunately, that was all she needed it to do.
The night before they were to put the plan into action, she and Jacob went with Kat to see a showing of National Treasure at the church. Kat had requested a special showing of the movie because she thought it would be motivating, even though Sandy and Jacob had watched it recently. It was motivating, but they all wished Xia and Two-Step had gotten a chance to see it before they checked into the research lab.
Early the next morning, after a quick test of the glasses and the monitors, Sandy headed out for the Your Better Life building. Jacob left an hour before her, following a different route than she would. She started by taking an air taxi to the Rice Village area. From there she took the light rail downtown, where she got on a bus to the central transport hub. After the transport hub, she took another bus, getting off eight blocks away from the Your Better Life Corporate Zone, and walking the rest of the way.
High rise apartments lined both sides of the street, their mirror-like windows and image projectors creating the illusion they dissolved as they rose from the street. These were corporate apartments for Your Better Life employees and their families. Xia lived here. Jacob used to, Sandy imagined she would have if her life had taken a different path. The only life evident in the area was at the street level of each building. Coffee shops, bars, grocery stores, restaurants, and anything else an employee would need to live in and never leave this small area of the city nested under the dissolving buildings above.
She checked the time. She was ahead of schedule, so she stopped at a coffee shop. After getting a coffee from the automated checkout, she sat a table on the sidewalk.
“How’s it going?” Kat asked through the earpiece.
“My appointment isn’t for another thirty minutes.”
“Good. You know, I haven’t been in that part of town in so long, I forgot how they live. It’s a whole other world over there.”
Sandy agreed. She looked at the ordered and pristine area around her. The Corporate Zone made The Galleria look like chaos. Everything is so clean here, she thought. Of course, it would be. All corporations used nano-cleaners to scour every inch of their zones, the small robots spending their hours breaking down the trash, the bird droppings, the stray human hair that fell, and even the smog residue off the glass of the buildings.
“It doesn’t look lived in,” she said.
“Yeah, it’s not for me. I think you can be clean without being sterile.”
“How’s Jacob doing?” Sandy asked.
“He’s on a bus right now. Let me patch you through,” Kat said.
“How’s the bus ride?” Sandy asked.
“You know my luck with buses. I just had someone try to convince me that the Cloud is controlled by a sentient being from another dimension. Other than that, I’m loving it,” Jacob said.
“Are you still on schedule?”
“I am.”
“Then I’ll see you soon,” Sandy said.
She finished her coffee and left the empty cup on the table. By the time she pushed her chair in, the nano-cleaners were working on the cup, giving it the appearance of slowly dissolving from the top down. They would reassemble it back inside the shop, its materials stuck in an endless loop of use and reuse. Watching the cup made her think about how it must be to live a life of never having to clean up after yourself, to live life in a bubble. Every major corporation had bubbles like this, city-states that were practically autonomous from the world around them. She could see the appeal. Life in a bubble and the freedom from outside cares and uncertainties had its advantages. But to her, when she was on the verge of entering that world a few years ago, life in a bubble seemed more like living in a cage and the freedoms it offered came with a different form of shackles. She would take the struggles and uncertainties of living on the outside over the contracts and social rigidity of living in a bubble.
“Okay,” Kat said, “Jacob is getting off the bus now. After you get in and get settled, I’ll let you know when he is close enough for you to make your move.”
“Got it,” Sandy said.
Clouds reflected in the glass facade of the DNA shaped building and she got in the long line of people waiting to be cleared to enter. The line moved slowly, giving her time to generate doubts in her mind. She ran her finger along the edge of her ID card, hoping it would fool the superior scanning system of the building.
Finally, she reached the scanning station, and the security guard held out his gloved hand. “Card, please. State your business for entering the building.”
She gave him her ID card, her image on the card reflecting in his protective mask, overlapping with her actual reflection.
“I’m here to apply for the peace mission program,” she said.
Despite the protective mask, she could see the guard was surprised by her answer.
“I know,” she said, “I’m a bit old. Just trying to turn my life around.”
The guard nodded and put the card in the scanner. “Remove your glasses and look into the facial recognition camera, please.”
She looked into the camera.
The scanner ejected the card. “Card unreadable,” it said in a pleasant female voice.
“Shit,” Kat said softly.
Sandy fought back a moment of panic. “That’s weird,” she s
aid.
“Oh, the system’s been acting up today,” the guard said. “Nothing to worry about. Just look into the camera again, please.” He rescanned the card.
“Baylor Clarke, identity confirmed,” the pleasant female voice said.
“Here you go,” the guard said, handing the card back to her. “You’re going to want to go to the fifth floor. The receptionist just outside the elevators will direct you from there.”
“Thank you.”
“And good luck. It’s never too late to get on the right path to a better life,” the guard said, echoing the company’s slogan.
“I hope so,” she said and went through the revolving door leading to the main lobby.
Chapter 50
The waiting room made Sandy feel old. Or rather, the other people in the waiting room made her feel old. She wasn’t. She wasn’t even thirty yet, but a sea of faces in their late teens and early twenties was enough to foster the feeling, and it made her glad she wasn’t actually applying for the program. Spending two years with these people would be rough.
“All right,” Kat said through the earpiece, “Jacob is two blocks away. You should go to the bathroom now.”
She went to the receptionist. “Excuse me, could you tell me where the restroom is? Too much coffee this morning.”
The receptionist gave her a look that said she didn’t need to know why. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Baylor Clarke, but I just need the restroom.”
“I wouldn’t want you to miss your interview. I’ll move you down the list.” She swiped her display a few times. “There. You have plenty of time now. The restroom is on your left at the end of the hall.”
“Thank you very much,” Sandy said and hurried out of the room.
She made her way down the hall, making a point of asking an employee for directions. Reaching the end of the hall, she took a left. After a few steps, she stopped. A red sign above the door of the restroom flashed “Out of Order.”
“Shit. Do you see that?”
“Yes,” Kat said.
“How close are you, Jacob?”
“I’m about to get in line,” Jacob’s voice came through the earpiece.
“Not yet. I have to find another restroom.”
“Just don’t be too obvious,” Kat said to Jacob. “Look natural. Pretend to get a call. I’ll take you off the feed with Sandy so you don’t distract her.”
“No problem,” Jacob said.
Sandy hurried back the way she came. A man with an employee badge came out of an office. “Excuse me,” she said before the man could walk off. “That restroom is closed. Could you tell me where the nearest one is?”
“The closest one on this floor is at the other end of the hall. There is one on the floor below, just outside the elevators.”
She opted for the one at the end of the hall. Inside, she checked to make sure she was alone, checking for feet in the stalls. When she was sure she was alone, she got in a stall and took out her deck and linked it with the building’s network. Now she just had to find the security system and the backdoor Xia planted. She found herself wishing they had been able to have contact with Xia and Two-Step, wanting to know the backdoor was installed. Attempting to push the thought from her mind, she worked quickly, driven by the uncertainty.
“How’s it going?” Kat asked.
“I should be in the security system any second now.”
She checked the system registry. The backdoor was there. Entering a simple command line, she took control of the security system’s video input.
“All right, I’ve got it. Put us back on three-way comms,” she said to Kat.
“Done.”
“Jacob, you can...”
The restroom door opened. Two women came in talking and laughing.
“Someone just came in,” Sandy whispered.
“All right,” Kat said. “Hold on Jacob.”
One woman got in the stall next to Sandy while the other stood outside of the stall, talking. Sandy continued to work, accessing the security systems video input feeds and output displays. She cycled through the inputs until she found the camera focused on the front of the building. She saw Jacob near the edge of the camera's field of view.
The woman in the stall finished and got out. Sandy was so focused on the security system, she hadn’t noticed the change in the tone of the women’s conversation. “I think they’re talking to you,” Kat said in her ear.
“What?”
The question was meant for Kat, but one of the women answered. “Are you okay?”
“Oh. Yes. I’m just,” she thought, trying to find the right lie.
“Tell them it’s morning sickness,” Kat suggested.
“It’s morning sickness. I’m just waiting for another wave to pass.”
“That sounded convincing,” Kat said.
“Well, congratulations, I guess,” one of the women said.
“It gets better. At least it did for me,” she added.
“Thanks.”
Sandy tried to work, but the women stood by the sink and continued to talk. They needed to leave. On the security video feed, the guard at the front door kept a close watch on Jacob. After every person he checked in, he shot a quick look in Jacob’s direction. She could superimpose the deep fake of Nicolas Cage over his image while the women were there, but she needed to tell him to come closer so the cameras had a better view of him. More than that, she needed the women to stop giving her advice about what to eat and when to eat it.
“Maybe you should pretend to throw up,” Kat said.
That sounded good, but she was sure the women would just offer more help, so she decided against it.
Finally, one of the women said they had to go, and she hoped the morning sickness got better soon.
“Thanks again,” Sandy said.
“Are they gone?” Kat asked.
“Yes. Patch me through again,” Sandy said. “Jacob, start toward the door, slowly. I’ll put the deep fake on you, but I need to make sure it’s coming through smoothly.”
Jacob put his phone in his pocket and walked toward the door. She loaded the Nicolas Cage program and attached it to Jacob’s figure. She checked the output. “Slow down just a bit,” she said. He did, and she made a few minor adjustments. It worked. The image on the screen showed a young Nicolas Cage walking up the sidewalk toward the main entrance and getting in line.
Sandy quickly turned her attention to the facial recognition scanning station. This would be trickier. Not only did she have to convince the system it was scanning Nicolas Cage and time it just right, but she also had to count on the security guard not recognizing Jacob. If he had been working at Your Better Life three years ago, it was possible. The image of Nicolas Cage stepped up to the security guard and hand him an ID card. The guard said something that was slightly distorted in the earpiece. Nicolas Cage took off his glasses and handed his backpack to the guard. While he went through the backpack, the guard said something else she couldn’t hear. Sandy held her breath. Nicolas Cage nodded and gave a little laugh and looked into the facial recognition camera. Sandy exhaled.
“Hold it there for a second,” Sandy said as she gave a few quick taps on her deck, overriding the facial recognition camera’s input data.
The guard handed the card and backpack back to Nicolas Cage and sent him through to the front door.
“Good job,” Kat said.
Sandy rubbed her eyes. “It’s not done yet,” she said.
Chapter 51
“I guess it’s working,” Jacob said as he walked through the front doors and into the Your Better Life lobby.
“It is,” Sandy said over the earpiece. “As far as the security system is concerned, Nicolas Cage has just entered the building.”
“You’re awesome.”
“Now I just have to put you on the appointment list. Give me a sec.”
Kat joined the conversation. “After you do that, link me with the camera system. I wan
t to be able to see what’s going on if something goes wrong.”
“Will do,” Sandy said.
Jacob walked to the directory display on the far wall. Looking around, he saw the lobby hadn’t changed much in three years. Some of the plants were different, or bigger, and the art hanging from the walls was new, but the furniture and the feel were the same. Even some of the people could have been the same. He hoped they weren’t. He didn’t want to be recognized, but anyone in the lobby could have been plucked out of time and placed in the same spot three years ago, and no one would notice the change.
One thing that had changed was the directory. At one time his name was included in the list of names projected in gold letters. He remembered how proud he was the first time he saw Jacob Quince, Code Developer and Researcher on the directory and how he asked Xia to take a picture of him next to it. She thought it was silly, but asked him to take one of her next to her name when she finished. “For my parents,” she said when he told her she was being silly. Now, with a strange name displayed in place of his, that day seemed like a lifetime ago.
“All right, Nicolas Grady,” Sandy said, “you have a 2:35 with a director of sales relations named Sara Nguyen. It’s the best I can do. The system won’t let me double book anyone.”
“Nicolas Grady?”
“Why not?”
It was only 1:20, but that was fine. He could make it work. He started for the reception desk, then hesitated. The two men sitting behind the raised counter were the same two men who had worked reception three years ago. They started around the same time he did and were at several new employee functions Jacob attended. They’ve seen thousands of people come in and out of here since then, he told himself. They won’t remember you.
In unison, the two men asked, “Can I help you?” They glanced at each other in what seemed to be a rehearsed routine.
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